Russophilia is the admiration and fondness of Russia (including the era of the Soviet Union and/or the Russian Empire), Russian history, and Russian culture. The antonym is Russophobia. [1] [2] In the 19th century, Russophilia was often linked to variants of pan-Slavism, since the Russian Empire and autonomous Serbia were the only two Slavic sovereign states during and after the Springtime of Nations.
In politics the term has been used to describe politicians and political parties that support their nations having stronger or closer relations to Russia and/or support a number of Russia's domestic and foreign policies. Some Russophilic politicians may also support russification of their country (especially in former Soviet states or Soviet satellite states) such as Alexander Lukashenko. [3] [4] [5]
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Republican Party of Armenia and Prosperous Armenia are the main Pro-Russian political parties in Armenia.
Belarus has close political and economic ties with Russia, both being part of the Union State, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Eurasian Economic Union, due to their shared Soviet heritage.
Following the 2020-2021 Belarusian protests and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many observers have described Belarus as a Russian puppet state or a satellite state. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
The People's Republic of China under the leadership of the Communist Party has supported the Russian Federation closely following international sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine. [12] [13] [14] China had close ties with the Soviet Union prior to the Sino-Soviet split, owing to ideological kinship between the two communist states. [15]
Previous anti-Russian sentiment in China has greatly downgraded, due to perceived common anti-Western sentiment among Russian and Chinese nationalists. [16] [17] Ethnic Russians are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. [18]
According to a 2019 survey by the Pew Research Center, 71% of Russians have a favourable view of China. [19] A YouGov survey conducted in the same year found that 71% of the Chinese think Russia has a positive effect on world affairs. [20]
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, many social media users in China showed sympathy for Russian narratives due in part to distrust of US foreign policy. [21] [22] According to a survey conducted by the Carter Center China Focus in April 2022, approximately 75% of respondents agreed that supporting Russia in the war in Ukraine was in China's best interest. [23] In the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the nationalistic Little Pink movement drew international attention for their role in contributing to the mostly pro-war, pro-Russia sentiments on the Chinese internet. [24]
The Communist movement in Finland during the Cold War inclined towards pro-Soviet tendencies, of which the Taistoist movement was especially pro-Soviet. [25] [26] [ clarification needed ]
The Finnish political party Power Belongs to the People (VKK) was unique in its strong support of Russia, being the only pro-Russian party in Finland as of 2022. It protested against sanctions on Russia and supported the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. [27] [28] The party has since dissasociated from the connections to Russia after Ano Turtiainen was replaced by Antti Asikainen. [29] [30] The Finnish political activist Johan Bäckman is known for his pro-Russian views and he has recruited Finns to fight for Russia in the war with Ukraine. [31] Bäckman later joined the VKK, led by Ano Turtiainen. [32] Some members of the Finns Party also held pro-Russian views. [33]
German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche described Russia as "the only power that has durability in it, which can wait, which can still produce something... the antithesis of that pitiable European petty-state politics and nervousness, with which the foundation of the German Reich has entered its crucial phase..." in his 1895 book The Antichrist . [34]
A poll conducted in summer 2022 shows that Indians most frequently named Russia their most trusted partner, with 43% naming Russia as such compared to 27% who named the US. [35]
Support for Russia remains high among Indonesians, owing to Moscow's perceived ties to Muslims and the Muslim world. Public animosity towards the West has resulted from the wars waged in Afghanistan and Iraq by the US and its allies, and their perceived neglectful treatment of the Palestinians in the territories occupied by Israel.
Some Indonesians have positively compared support for Russian president Vladimir Putin in the Russo-Ukrainian War to support for former president Suharto in the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. [36] Russophiles are also found among the political left, who support Russia due to inaugural Indonesian president Sukarno's closeness to the Soviet Union. Pro-Russian sentiment is especially strong among members of the governing Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, led by Sukarno's daughter Megawati Sukarnoputri, who publicly criticized Ukraine and president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. [37]
According to a December 2018 survey by IranPoll, 63.8% of Iranians have a favorable view of Russia. [38]
Diana Șoșoacă, a prominent figure in S.O.S. Romania, has garnered significant support on the social media platform Telegram. Many of her supporters on the platform express Russophile sentiments. [39]
Russia is popular in Serbia, and many Serbs have traditionally seen Russia as a close ally due to shared Slavic heritage, culture, and the Orthodox faith. [40] According to the European Council on Foreign Relations, 54% of Serbians see Russia as an ally. In comparison, 11% see the European Union as an ally, and only 6% see the United States in the same manner. [41]
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, People's Patrol, a far-right group, organized pro-Russian rallies in Belgrade, which were attended by 4,000 people. [42] [43] [44]
In 2017, the inhabitants of the Serbian village of Adžinci renamed their village Putinovo, in honor of Vladimir Putin. [45] [46]
Following Ukrainian independence in 1991, in the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum 92% (including 55% of ethnic Russians) voted for independence from Moscow, [47] but some Ukrainians, mostly in the east and south of the country, voted to see a more Russophile attitude of the government, ranging from closer economic partnership to full national union. [48] Russia and Ukraine had especially close economic ties, and the Russophilic political party, the Party of Regions, became the largest party in the Verkhovna Rada in the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election, receiving 33% of the votes. It would remain a dominant force in Ukrainian politics, until the 2014 Revolution of Dignity. Following the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine, the overall attitude of Ukrainians towards Russia and Russians has become much more negative, [49] with most Ukrainians favoring NATO [50] and European Union membership. [51] Their views on Russia would further deteriorate following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in 2016 found that 67% of Ukrainians had a positive attitude to Russians, but that only 8% had a positive attitude to the Russian government. [52]
41% of Ukrainians had a "good" attitude towards Russians (42% negatively), while in general 54% of Russians had a positive attitude towards Ukraine, according to an October 2021 poll of the country's population. [53]
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According to an interview made by the Ukrainian "Rada" TV channel, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson is a Russophile, admiring Russian language and culture, even after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [54]
Many members of the Republican Party in the United States express positive views on Russia. A 2017 poll highlighted that around 32% of respondents had favorable views of Russian president Vladimir Putin. [55] Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, these numbers surged. A YouGov poll found nearly 62% of Republicans preferred Vladimir Putin over Joe Biden, noting that the former was a stronger leader than the latter. [56] Many notable Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, television presenter Tucker Carlson, and incumbent Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene have all expressed admiration for Russia and its leaders. [57] [58]
Favorable perceptions of Russia in Vietnam have 83% of Vietnamese people viewing Russia's influence positively in 2017. [59] This stems from historic Soviet support of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. [60]
Anti-Russian sentiment or Russophobia is dislike or fear or hatred of Russia, Russian people, or Russian culture. The opposite of Russophobia is Russophilia.
The colour revolutions were a series of often non-violent protests and accompanying changes of government and society that took place in post-Soviet states and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the early 21st century. The aim of the colour revolutions was to establish Western-style liberal democracies. They were primarily triggered by election results widely viewed as falsified. The colour revolutions were marked by the usage of the internet as a method of communication, as well as a strong role of non-governmental organizations in the protests.
Russia–European Union relations are the international relations between the European Union (EU) and Russia. Russia borders five EU member states: Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland; the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad is surrounded by EU members. Until the radical breakdown of relations following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU was Russia's largest trading partner and Russia had a significant role in the European energy sector. Due to the invasion, relations became very tense after the European Union imposed sanctions against Russia. Russia placed all member states of the European Union on a list of "unfriendly countries", along with NATO members, Switzerland, Ukraine, and several Asia-Pacific countries.
Lemko-Rusyn People's Republic, often known also as the Lemko-Rusyn Republic, just the Lemko Republic, or the Florynka Republic, was a short-lived state founded on 5 December 1918 in the aftermath of World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was centered on Florynka, a village in the south-east of present-day Poland. Being Russophile, its intent was unification with a democratic Russia and was opposed to a union with the West Ukrainian People's Republic. A union with Russia proved impossible, so the Republic then attempted to join Subcarpathian Rus' as an autonomous province of Czechoslovakia. This, however, was opposed by the then governor of Subcarpathian Rus', Gregory Žatkovič.
China–Ukraine relations are foreign relations between Ukraine and China. The earliest contact in record between the nations date back to the first Russian Orthodox mission in China in 1715, which was led by the Ukrainian Archimandrite Hilarion (Lezhaysky). As part of the Soviet Union, Ukraine recognized the People's Republic of China in October 1949. After Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the two countries built formal diplomatic relations in 1992, and declared a strategic partnership in 2011.
NATO is a military alliance of thirty-two European and North American countries that constitutes a system of collective defense. The process of joining the alliance is governed by Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which allows for the invitation of "other European States" only and by subsequent agreements. Countries wishing to join must meet certain requirements and complete a multi-step process involving political dialogue and military integration. The accession process is overseen by the North Atlantic Council, NATO's governing body. NATO was formed in 1949 with twelve founding members and has added new members ten times. The first additions were Greece and Turkey in 1952. In May 1955, West Germany joined NATO, which was one of the conditions agreed to as part of the end of the country's occupation by France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, prompting the Soviet Union to form its own collective security alliance later that month. Following the end of the Franco regime, newly democratic Spain chose to join NATO in 1982.
Russia–Serbia relations are the bilateral foreign relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Serbia. The countries established official diplomatic relations as the Russian Empire and Principality of Serbia in 1816. Russia has an honorary consulate and embassy in Belgrade, and a liaison office to UNMIK, the capital of the disputed territory of Kosovo. Serbia has an embassy in Moscow, an honorary consulate in St. Petersburg and has announced to open a consulate-general in Yekaterinburg.
Mongolia–Russia relations have been traditionally strong since the Communist era, when the Soviet Union supported the Mongolian People's Republic. Mongolia and Russia remain allies in the post-communist era. Russia has an embassy in Ulaanbaatar and two consulates general. Mongolia has an embassy in Moscow, three consulates general, and a branch in Yekaterinburg. Both countries are full members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
The Foundations of Geopolitics: The Geopolitical Future of Russia is a geopolitical book by Aleksandr Dugin. Its publication in 1997 was well received in Russia; it has had significant influence within the Russian military, police forces, and foreign policy elites, and has been used as a textbook in the Academy of the General Staff of the Russian military. Powerful Russian political figures subsequently took an interest in Dugin, a Russian political analyst who espouses an ultra-nationalist and neo-fascist ideology based on his idea of neo-Eurasianism, who has developed a close relationship with Russia's Academy of the General Staff.
The All-Russian nation or triune Russian nation, also called the pan-Russian nation, is the term for the Imperial Russian and later irredentist ideology that sees the Russian nation as comprising a "trinity" of sub-nations: Great Russia, Little Russia, and White Russia. Respectively, these sub-nations are contextually identified with Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians. Above all, the basis of the ideology's upholding of an inclusive Russian identity is centered around bringing all East Slavs under its fold.
Putinism is the social, political, and economic system of Russia formed during the political leadership of Vladimir Putin. It is characterized by the concentration of political and financial powers in the hands of "siloviks", current and former "people with shoulder marks", coming from a total of 22 governmental enforcement agencies, the majority of them being the Federal Security Service (FSB), Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Armed Forces of Russia, and National Guard of Russia. According to Arnold Beichman, "Putinism in the 21st century has become as significant a watchword as Stalinism was in the 20th."
Russian irredentism refers to territorial claims made by the Russian Federation to regions that were historically part of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, which Russian nationalists regard as part of the "Russian world". It seeks to create a Greater Russia by politically incorporating ethnic Russians and Russian speakers living in territories bordering Russia. This ideology has been significantly defined by the regime of Vladimir Putin, who has governed the country since 1999. It is linked to Russian neo-imperialism.
Russian imperialism is the political, economic and cultural influence, as well as military power, exerted by Russia and its predecessor states, over other countries and territories. It includes the conquests of the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, the imperialism of the Soviet Union, and the neo-imperialism of the Russian Federation. Some postcolonial scholars have noted the lack of attention given to Russian and Soviet imperialism in the discipline.
Ano Veli Samuel Turtiainen is a Finnish former powerlifter and Far right politician. who served in the Parliament of Finland for the South-Eastern Finland constituency from 2019 to 2023. He is also founder and former leader of the Power Belongs to the People party. He lives in Juva. Turtiainen was elected to the parliament in the 2019 parliamentary election. Turtiainen was expelled from the Finns Party for posting a tweet perceived as mocking the murder of George Floyd in February 2021.
Power Belongs to the People, formerly known as Parliamentary Group Ano Turtiainen (AT), is a political party in Finland. Ano Turtiainen was its group leader and was its only member of parliament. The group's rules state that the purpose of the group's activities is "to act in parliament in the interests of Finland and Finns and to have freedom of speech in elections".
On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine in a steep escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The campaign had been preceded by a Russian military buildup since early 2021 and numerous Russian demands for security measures and legal prohibitions against Ukraine joining NATO.
The Russo-Ukrainian War has seen foreign volunteers participate on both sides of the conflict. Most foreign fighters joined the conflict during one of two waves. The first wave happened from 2014 to 2019 during the War in the Donbas and consisted of approximately 17,241 foreign fighters. The second wave is considered by researchers to have been much larger and began in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine led to widespread international condemnation by political parties and international organisations, as well as by people and groups in the areas of entertainment, media, business, and sport, where boycotts of Russia and Belarus also took place.
The Freedom Alliance, is a right-wing populist registered political party in Finland. The party was founded by Ossi Tiihonen as a result of a split from the Power Belongs to the People (VKK) party in February 2022, receiving 5,000 signatures on 19 April 2022, and being later registered on 6 May 2022.
On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War which began in 2014. The invasion caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II, with more than 8.2 million Ukrainians fleeing the country and a third of the population displaced. The invasion also caused global food shortages. Reactions to the invasion have varied considerably across a broad spectrum of concerns including public reaction, media responses, and peace efforts.
Media related to Russophiles at Wikimedia Commons